Open Thread - Friday, July 19, 2018

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If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.
― Albert Einstein

Funkin' eh!

Sit still the whole time?

I am in serious need of some inspiration. I have been contemplating dumping the Internet. I do not twit, nor FB. C99 comrades are my only cyber friends. Otherwise, it is propagandapolooza or buying crap I do not need. The Internet tubes are full of garbage and funky2.

Can it be done? Can an individual quit the Internet without professional help?

Heh, who am I kidding? I'll never make it alone.

Have a great weekend! The thread is OPEN.

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Raggedy Ann's picture

Einstein was a fascinating human. Wonder what he would have thought of the Internet. Would he have been a proponent of net neutrality? Would he have been able to quit the Internet? Interesting to ponder.

Did you get that snowy weather in NC? We are back in drought conditions with no moisture in sight. Even though I prefer it not to snow, we are in desperate need. My son, who lives in Flagstaff, has not had snow either. Their fire danger is scary, as that town is smack-dab in the middle of a forest.

Looking forward to the weekend. I've had a tough week, so I'm hoping to catch up on some much needed rest.

Have a beautiful day and weekend, folks! Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

NCTim's picture

@Raggedy Ann ...around a half foot. Everything was closed for a couple of days. If we were still in Pittsburgh, people would have left work early, to get a seat at the tavern, and school would have got out early on the day of the event.

Both kids are home, for a few weeks. We loaded up on cinnamon buns, apple strudel and muffins, plus I made a sausage/basil/garlic sauce, so we ate well. I sure hope the YMCA is open today. I need to burn some calories.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

hecate's picture

@Raggedy Ann @Raggedy Ann
couldn't find his own house until he painted the door red. He could never remember his phone number, because what was the point? Einstein was all about original thought, and you can't find that in a tube. You have to go out there on your own.

Neal Stephenson, once an avatar of the intertubes, now thinks they are stupid and boring, and it's time to move on.

What I’m kind of hoping is that this is just kind of a pause, while we assimilate this gigantic new thing, ubiquitous computing and the Internet. And that at some point we’ll turn around and say, 'Well, that was interesting—we have a whole set of new tools and capabilities that we didn’t have before the whole computer/Internet thing came along.'

Now let’s get back to work doing interesting and useful things.

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riverlover's picture

I am still on FB, but the political discussions have recently been slammed on by Zuck minions (overt censorship). Although yesterday, a whole bunch of pro-Sanders ads and articles appeared. Not DNC-funded, of course.

My car was freed from its ice holes yesterday. $45 for a slow yank backward. I got to stand and watch from the lee-side of the car. Some quarter panel displacement in the front end. And a turn signal ripped loose. A snap-on. But the water flow continues and more rain is in the forecast, but only 0.25". That culvert needs replacement and raising. A project that was supposed to be done last summer by my plow guy who operates heavy equipment for his real job. He did not get around to it. Rodney looks like an elderly Grizzly Adams. Expence$; deferred expence$ are worse. Friends (who have one) say I should pave the 900' driveway. Estimate a decade ago was ca $20K. That kind of inflato-cash eludes me.

Currently 18, getting sunny with the sunrise and going above freezing. I will get tired of walking 900 feet, uphill. Twice yesterday (2 downhills, too) and at least once this AM for an ENT appointment. Good Friday to all c99ers!

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

NCTim's picture

@riverlover I know the routine. I had a long gravel driveway and 4WD truck when we lived in PA. When it snowed, I would hit the driveway, at speed, and go as far as I could, then walk the remainder. I used to lie in bed and curse the flashing lights from the road crew, because that meant the streets were cleared, and the snow was piled in front of the driveway.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

NCTim's picture

Too bad, such a nice fellow. Bury him with his money.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

riverlover's picture

@NCTim Welcome to dog-world. Mine's a sweetie when not a bitey.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Lookout's picture

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/supreme-court-just-blocked-or...

Moral Mondays must be defeated! That's one advantage of the tubes...finding out how and when you'll be screwed.

Einstein the Genius (3.5 min) -
I like my version better but this is what I could find on the tubes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksz6sjxTQ7o

The last verse fits your theme...

Einstein The Genius (Theory Of Relativity)

Henry Jankiewicz

Einstein was a genius, not like you and me.
He wrote two equations every day.
On mondays he wrote three.
On mondays, he wrote three.

Chorus:
Albert, dance around.
Albert, be profound.
Albert let your hair stick out,
Your socks hang down.

A man stared through a telescope until his eyes were red.
He stared in outer space and saw
The back of his own head.
The backside, of his head.

A Man got in a spaceship and flew a hundered miles.
Busted through the speed of light.
He came back a child.
He came back a child.

I had a frame of reference.
I laid on the fence.
Along came relativity.
I haven't seen the damn thing since.
Seen the damn thing since.

A wave and a particle were walking side by side.
One said to the other,
"Which one of us am I?"
"Which one, of us am I?"

Einstein had a fiddle. He loved to {shout,dance} and sing.
Man if that ain't genius,
That ain't anything.
That ain't anything.

Hope you all have a nice day. We're warming up to 48 today...a tropical heat wave!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

NCTim's picture

@Lookout Things could get funky.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

orlbucfan's picture

Got down in the upper 30s last night here in O-ville. We are in desperate need for these freezes both for plant health and bug control. Climate change strikes again! Sad rl: are you going to your Meetup? I know @wink had to reschedule it. We're copying you guys. CStMS has our first one posted. Smile

It was MLK Day this week. So, I've been listening to some gospel music. I may not be a Christian or anything else organized, but this genre has produced great musical/performance art. That always works for me.

This choir group also did a great song with the singer, Melanie. Those were the days, sigh.

Rec'd!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

NCTim's picture

@orlbucfan I am a belligerent agnostic curmudgeon, who enjoys gospel music. I used to do a gospel brunch over at TOP.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

NCTim's picture

@orlbucfan The YMCA is open! I need to burn some nervous energy before I can relax.

It will be warm enough, if the streets clear up, to go for a ride this afternoon.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

hecate's picture

@NCTim
this YMCA.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi2hEyzqfos]

I thought: absolutely not. How could you cover that song? The thing about covering songs, you have to get inside the song and see if it works. And when I started to listen to the lyrics, they were weirdly revealing.

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hecate's picture

@orlbucfan @orlbucfan
"Oh Happy Day" story is a fun one.

When Edwin Hawkins first came up with the arrangement, there was grumping in his Berkeley church: people thought it might be Bad and Wrong; it seemed to some to smell of sulphur. It is true that Hawkins snuck some Sergio Mendes in there, but he didn't tell the church people that.

The lead singer, Dorothy Morrison, complained there were a lot of words; she wrote them on her hand. "At the church I wrote two sections on my palms with a pen. The third section I memorized. During the recording, I put up my hands, with my palms facing me. Everyone thought I was feeling the spirit. I was—but I also was reading the lyrics." She ended up, moved by the spirit, adlibbing much of it, including the "good God," which she freely admitted she swiped from James Brown.

It was recorded on a beat-up old two-track because the church couldn't afford anything else. It was assumed no one would want to buy the album that included the song, so the church only pressed 500 copies. The idea was to peddle these to pay for the choir to travel to a church youth conference in Washington DC, but the discs weren't pressed in time. While in DC the choir finished second in a singing competition; they performed two numbers, one of which was "Oh Happy Day," which Hawkins said was "not our favorite song." This was in 1967-68.

Then, in 1969, a guy stumbled across a copy of the lp while going through disused gospel product at Chatton Distributors in Oakland. He listened to it, went wild, and ran it down to Abe Kesh, acidhead KSAN dj, who, in the jargon of the day, "immediately flipped," and began playing it at all times on his midnight Lights Out: San Francisco show. (Kesh was a man with a wide ear: formerly, he had brought Blue Cheer to the people.) The song next infected Dan Sorkin, morning man over on KSFO. Then, it was everywhere.

It was reissued on Buddah Records, because of course a Christian gospel song gone wide due to the efforts of pagan radio djs would be peddled by a Buddah (itself birthed from Kama Sutra Records). The church pitched a snit, did not want the song heard by heathens, and so demanded the choir at least change its name, having gone over to Buddah. In those times, churches often discouraged their choirs from performing outside the four walls of the faithful.

All that is over now, not least because of "Oh Happy Day." Out here, the song is today included in the program of a gospel community choir, annually performed at the university on MLK Day, where the choir attempts to educate the white people on what it is like to be black.

George Harrison said he stole from "Oh Happy Day," to write "My Sweet Lord," and so couldn't understand why, if he was going to be sued, it wouldn't be by the Hawkins people, rather than the "He's So Fine" crew.

Edwin Hawkins died earlier this week, at 74, of pancreatic cancer.

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orlbucfan's picture

@hecate @hecate Thanks!! Remember the one they did with Melanie, Lay Down (I think that's the title)? Man, if they got all hysterical over pagans listening to Happy Day...can you imagine all the strokes the faithful fruitcakes would have over Melanie??? Daughter of Satan, etc. gawd!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Wink's picture

Doug's, @orlbucfan ! yum yum if you like your classic fish dinner w/ fries and slaw! Also looking at an overnight Meetup in Poughkeepsie for Sat. Jun. 30 for Albany, Downstate, NYC, Lon Gisland C99'ers. Nuthin' carved in stone yet - will depend on interest. But, the Marriott there has decent facilities for $120 a night, give or take, so... a few months to save up. Spend most of the afternoon and evening in their Conference room, a beer or three after, breakfast in the morning followed by the drive home. Gives us a chance to hook up with C99'ers nearby where you then can connect locally once a month, give or take. Lots to do this year, if we're not all busted by then, so an overnight Meetup might be a way to kick it off.
Also need one on the western side of the state. Maybe Steven D's neck of the woods in Rottenchester. If anyone living in NY-21 or along the Thruway needs a ride we can set that up.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

orlbucfan's picture

I answer with FL. Be careful of slick roads if you ride today, Tim. Speaking of gospel, I recall listening to the great (she could sing) Mahalia Jackson as a little kid. A ton of great soul (and jazz) artists got their start in the church doing gospel. The world is better for it, too (fellow Agnostic here).

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

NCTim's picture

@orlbucfan Includes comparing black women's faith with the religious right. Reframed, religious women with moral character, versus charlatans with an agenda. That's what I am funkin' talking about.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

orlbucfan's picture

Amen! Smile

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

No? Howsa' 'bout moar B3?

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NCTim's picture

@JtC But it has to be funky.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

@NCTim
OK

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NCTim's picture

@JtC

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

NCTim's picture

@JtC

Later

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

@NCTim
when you two get Rollin’ like this!
Don’t let ‘em funk you up, Bruddah, just keep the Groove. . .

Stop These Funkin’ Wars

peace

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

@NCTim

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Wink's picture

@NCTim

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

hecate's picture

Scoop Nisker, he of the fabled "if you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own," was plugged all day every day into all forms of media, so that he might deliver distillations of what was happening to KSAN listeners. But every year he would step away for a month or so, and unplug from all of it. He called this "erasing the tapes." Then he would come back, refreshed.

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NCTim's picture

@hecate ... & C99. I empathize.

Going to hit the gym.

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The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -

Wink's picture

@hecate

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

link

The leftist frontrunner for Mexico’s presidential election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, on Thursday made light of allegations that his campaign may have Russian backing, joking that he would henceforth be known as “Andres Manuelovich.”
..A spokesman for Jose Antonio Meade, his rival from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), warned on Wednesday about possible Russian interference in the July vote, with the aim of benefiting Lopez Obrador, a two-time runner-up.

The former Mexico City mayor, who is widely known as “Peje” after a thick-skinned fish prevalent in his home state of Tabasco, responded with a tongue-in-cheek video shot at a port, where he said he was waiting for a Russian submarine to surface laden with gold.

“I am no longer ‘Peje,’ now I‘m Andres Manuelovich,” he grinned.

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enhydra lutris's picture

that I'm supposed to be doing daily during that after dinner period when I idly read e-mails, c99p and those magazines that I can access on line, Scientific American, Popular Science, Sky and Telescope, Living Bird and all that. I can read those any time, on paper, so I should be doing my other stuff.

SciShow has tons of episodes, I've hardly touched it, and numberphile, and the brain scoop (+ whatever it turned into) plus the 2 history series by John (mental blank), US and world. Then there's world science U, all the others I've never sampled or looked at (there are simply too many out there), astronomy stuff, including real time astronomy via Slooh.

More importantly, I'm letting the team down because there is an enormous shitload of citizen science projects that need a hand, like Chimp & See, Snapshot Serengetti, some Astro ones and who knows what else by now. Chimp & See wasted tons of my time because I got addicted, but it is a good project, so I should get back to it.

Lessee, where was I? Oh yes, news and current events - pretty much all lies, or trivial, agreed, so I simply skip most of it. But I know there's a ton of Art and Art related stuff there too, and I'm a late starting self-taught (if at all) art aficionado, so I should dig into that, maybe instead of Russia, Russia, Russia Trump, trump, trupm Hillary. Ah well, gardening and all that, too, so much to learn and so little time. I should get going, but your tunes are always soooo cool, thanks mucho for the gloriously groovy distractions.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

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specially love the funky godspell

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janis b's picture

Thanks for Ben Sidran. I spent some very enjoyable time catching up with him again after so long.

[video:https://youtu.be/NHdSuzMq738]

Have a great weekend Tim.

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